Huge solar storm hurtling toward Earth this weekend (+video)

Solar Storm: Scientists say not to worry about the huge stream of electrically charged plasma that is barreling toward our planet at more than three million miles per hour.

By Associated Press / July 13, 2012

This false-color image provided by NASA shows a solar flare, lower center, erupting from the sun on Thursday. Space weather scientists said there should be little impact to Earth.

NASA/AP

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?A solar storm is racing toward Earth this weekend, but scientists say not to worry.

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The sun's surface erupted into an angry solar flare on July 12, 2012 at 12:52 p.m. EDT.

The X1.4-class flare unleashed about 1 billion hydrogen bombs' worth of energy into space. Right behind it is a slower-moving coronal mass ejection, or CME, which is a belch of solar particles.

When strong CME's reach Earth, they can peel back Earth's magnetic layers, cause dazzling auroras, affect satellites in space and even fluctuate power grids.

The blast of charged solar particles was due to arrive Saturday morning and shake Earth's magnetic field. Space weather forecasters say it will be a minor event and they don't expect disruptions to power grids or communications systems.

The storm began Thursday when the sun unleashed a huge flare that sent a stream of particles speeding toward Earth at 3 million mph.

There's a bright side to stormy space weather: It tends to create colorful northern lights. Scientists say shimmering colorful auroras may be visible at the United States-Canada border and northern Europe this weekend.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/MwEJT8l5UGI/Huge-solar-storm-hurtling-toward-Earth-this-weekend-video

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